Work to Do
by just-nikki
Summary: Eight women have already died and Spencer thinks he knows how to find the remaining missing women, but he can't do it if Morgan keeps insisting he's too sick to work. Moreid. Established relationship.


The Phoenix sun beat down with such ferocity that even the interior of the local police station was baking. Reid paused from scratching at the white board and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He felt so hot, he'd shed his vest and tie and rolled his sleeves up hours before. He bit his lip as he worked, feeling that he was right on the edge of figuring out something important, and ignored the uncomfortable warmth of the room.

Reid was so deeply engrossed in his work that he didn't notice when Morgan stepped into the room. He jumped when Morgan spoke.

"Hey, kid. You get any further with that map?"

"Um, kind of," Reid took a step back. "I started plotting the workplaces of all of victims and that hadn't gotten me very far, but what I did notice was their proximity to the same chain of coffee shops. All of them are within a block and a half."

"That doesn't seem like much. Are you sure there's a connection there?" Morgan took a step closer to the map, eyes moving from one point to the next, trying to see what he knew Reid saw..

Reid capped his marker. "I'm not sure, actually. There's only three of these coffee shops, but we have nearly a dozen victims from all over the city, so it's statistically significant, but it could be a coincidence." he looked at Morgan and paused. "Aren't you burning up in that jacket?"

Morgan shook his head slightly. "No, it's cold in here." He gave Reid a long look. His cheeks were pink and his eyes looked glassy. "You feel okay, pretty boy?"

Reid considered the question. He felt fine, he was just so _hot_. But otherwise he was definitely fine. His head wasn't aching behind his eyes, his throat wasn't scratchy at all, and even though he hadn't eaten all day, he wasn't even hungry, much less kind of nauseous and a little dizzy if he moved his head too quickly.

"I'm fine," he said quickly, uncapping his marker and stepping back up to his map. He drew a line through a few spots on the map and ignored the feeling of Morgan's eyes on him. His lips moved silently as he talked himself through a thought, gesturing his marker at the board haphazardly and marking his shirt without realizing.

Morgan took a step back as Reid gestured bigger with his marker.

"I think I've got something. I need a list all of the supply men who would deliver coffee to these coffee shops. It's a local chain, it's probably the same company making the deliveries to all of them." Reid was still writing, determinedly not making eye contact with Morgan.

"Okay, okay," Morgan nodded. "I'll call Garcia."

He hesitated. Reid kept rubbing his throat with his free hand, like there was an itch he couldn't reach to scratch. He cleared his throat, frowning. Morgan reached out a hand and pressed the back of his fingers to Reid's cheek.

Reid swatted Morgan's hand away and scowled.

"Morgan, I swear to God-"

"You're burning up, kid. Let me take you back to the hotel."

Slowly, Reid set the marker back on the table so he wouldn't throw it at Morgan. He started to reach up to his collar to tug it again, but caught himself and lowered his hand.

"There are eight women dead right now and another two missing," he started, in the tone of voice that was sure to work its way into a frenzy.

Morgan stepped forward and dropped his hand on Reid's shoulder. "Reid, I _know_. But you're not going to be any use to us if you get worse. Let me take you back to the hotel. We'll call you if we need you but then you can rest."

"I'm more useful here," he said stubbornly. "And I'm not sick!" he added indignantly and Morgan just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Kid."

Reid turned back to the map and the whiteboard. "Call Garcia and I'll think about it."

Sighing, Morgan retreated from the room. "Hey, baby girl," he said, his voice fading away as he walked down the hall.

There was still so much work to do. The Phoenix officers had been late in calling in the FBI and by the time the BAU arrived, there were already six women dead and two more missing. The unsub abducted two women at a time, 24 hours apart. They were under the wire and all feeling the pressure. It was no wonder Reid wasn't feeling well, they'd hardly had any sleep in days.

 _Lack of sleep doesn't cause a fever,_ he thought to himself. He unbuttoned another button at his neck and sighed. He had work to do.

Reid gathered up his notes in his hand and turned to the conference room. He had only made it as far as the door when his head started to spin and he had to grab the door frame to stay upright. The room pitched forward violently. Reid closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was still trying to reorient himself when he felt a strong hand on his arm, pulling him upright. Reid exhaled.

"Gonna and try tell me you're fine again?" Morgan asked quietly.

When Reid opened his eyes, Morgan was looking at him with his head tilted, concern etched in his face.

"Let me take you to the hotel."

Reid held out the sheath of papers in his hand. "I found something."

"So we'll drop it by the conference room, you can tell us what you need next, and then I'll give you a ride to the hotel."

"Morgan, if we're right about the timeline, and we are, Angela and Mary have hours left. We have to find them _now_."

"And we _will_ , kid, but right now, you need to go and rest. You're sick, you look like hell, and we're not going to get any work done if the rest of us are worrying about you."

Morgan was still holding onto Reid's arm, but the room felt like it was swaying. He was so uncomfortably warm now that his skin felt tight and dry, like it was stretched too thinly over his bones. There was a rock in the pit of his stomach that he didn't think was the result of the flu.

"Hey," Morgan said, leaning forward to rest his forehead on Reid's, ignoring the heat radiating from Reid's frame. "I promise if we need you, we'll call, baby."

Reid stood up straighter quickly and moved his head away from Morgan's, looking irritated. "I asked you not to call me that at work."

Morgan smiled as Reid's scowl deepened. "Just trying to get a reaction." He let go of Reid's arm and put it around the smaller man's thin shoulders instead. He took a quick look down the hall before he pressed a soft kiss to Reid's forehead. "Conference room, then hotel. Okay?"

"Fine," Reid agreed hesitantly. "But if you _baby_ me one more time, I'm never sleeping again, just to spite you."

The conference room was stuffed to overflowing with file boxes. Prentiss and JJ were barely visible over the stacks of grimy brown boxes.

"Perfect," Prentiss said when Morgan and Reid came into the room. "Reid can get through these in five minutes. Did you find anything in the geographic profile?" She set a file folder down on the folder and got a good look at Reid. "You look _awful_."

"Thanks," Reid said dully, annoyed with how raspy his voice had become. He dropped into a chair at the conference table. "I did find something. All of the victims lived within a few blocks of the local coffee chain, Linda's Coffee, and all of the locations have their paper products delivered by a local company. I had Garcia pull a list of the drivers and one guy, Frank Leeford, does all the deliveries for downtown, in his own van."

"A green van with the windows painted over?" JJ asked, referencing the van a few witnesses had mentioned seeing the days of the abductions.

Reid nodded. "Garcia got his information, but it looks like he's been using dummy addresses on his taxes and driver's license for years. She's going to call Morgan once she's got a better lead."

"Someone should head down to the warehouse and talk to this guy's boss," Prentiss said, leaning back in her chair. "We've been trying to find a link between these women for hours, could it be as simple as where they get their coffee?" She fiddled her pen between her fingers. "Why wouldn't that show up on their credit cards?"

"Linda's Coffee doesn't take cards. It would have been all cash transactions," Reid explained. He broke off in a ragged cough. Prentiss and JJ exchanged looks. In the bright lights of the conference room, the pallor of Reid's skin set against the unhealthy pink of his cheeks was even more stark. Morgan, who had been leaning against the doorway, listening to the conversation, stepped forward and put a hand on the back of Reid's chair.

"Reid…" JJ started, but Morgan shook his head and cut her off.

"I'll go to the warehouse. I'm going to drop this genius off at the hotel on the way there."

Prentiss nodded. "JJ, go with them. Talk to everyone who worked the same shift as Frank. I'll gather up deputies to talk to the owners at the coffee shops."

The drive was quiet, Morgan and JJ talked in hushed tones in the front seat about the case, Reid having given up all pretense of feeling well. Every bump they went over caused his head to throb painfully. He pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes trying to stop the pain, but relief was elusive.

The scenery moved past the car quickly, haze hovering just over the burning hot pavement. Reid groaned, feeling like his stomach was moving more slowly than the car. Morgan looked up in the rearview mirror and caught Reid's eye. Reid offered him a weak smile, but his expression came out pained.

"I'm going to run inside, Jayje," Morgan said, pulling into the hotel parking lot and putting the SUV in park. "I'll be right back."

JJ nodded, already pulling out her phone. "Great, I've been waiting for a free moment to call Will."

The temperature outside was stifling. Reid felt dizzy just stepping into it but he took a slow, steadying breath and tried to straighten up. His stomach cramped so tightly and unexpectedly he nearly double over. Morgan's arm came around his back and Reid leaned into him on impulse.

"It's not even flu season," Reid mumbled. "Statistically, the chances of getting the flu in the summer are very, very low."

Morgan squeezed Reid's shoulders. "I don't think the flu cares about statistics, pretty boy. C'mon."

The air in the hotel felt blissfully cool but the relief didn't last long. Reid let Morgan led him through the halls up to the room he was supposed to be sleeping alone. Morgan politely didn't mention the slight tremor in Reid's hands as he unlocked the door.

"You want me to stay here while you get settled?"

Reid shook his head, already pulling his tie over his head and peeling his shirt off. He just wanted to blast the air conditioner, take off all of his clothes, and sleep for three days. "Go back to work."

"Hey," Morgan said, giving Reid's shirt the final tug to pull it from his shoulders. He put his hands on Reid's hips and leaned in to kiss his forehead. "You're not letting us down by getting sick, okay?"

Reid shrugged and didn't meet Morgan's eyes.

"You call me if you need anything." He pulled Reid in closer and hugged him tightly, savoring the feeling of Reid's body relaxing against his, even if their proximity did make Morgan feel a little too warm also.

"I'll be fine, Morgan. Most flu-related complications arise in children and seniors." Reid rested his forehead on Morgan's shoulder for a moment before he pulled back to kick his shoes off. He fell in the general direction of the bed and curled in on himself, eyes closed before his head hit the pillow.

Morgan leaned over and ruffled Reid's hair.

"I'll check in in a few hours."

Reid nodded.

"I'll try not to be too late."

Reid nodded again.

"Do you want-"

"Just _go_ ," Reid mumbled. "You're definitely going to get sick too, get all the work done while you can."

Morgan held up his hands in defeat. "Alright, pretty boy. I'm leaving." He was halfway out the door when he turned back. He could see Reid's chest rising and falling, just a little faster than normal. "Hey, kid."

"You're supposed to be leaving." Reid responded, his eyes still closed.

"I know. I didn't want to leave without telling you I love you."

"Oh," Reid said, turning his head to look at Morgan. His face relaxed just a little. "I love you too." He closed his eyes again. "Now go away."

The click of the door sounded miles away to Reid. There was an unrelenting tightness in his chest telling him he hadn't done enough. As he finally gave into sleep, the last thing that occurred to him was that if these women died, it might well be his fault.

It was hours later the next time Reid woke up. Someone was gently stroking his hair. He leaned into the touch, opening his eyes to see Morgan's familiar silhouette sitting beside him on the bed in the dark room.

"Hey," Reid said sleepily.

"How do you feel?" Morgan asked, moving his hand down to Reid's cheek. "You don't feel as warm."

Reid reached up and took Morgan's hand in his. "I feel like I missed you." He tugged Morgan in closer to him. "Come to bed."

The bed creaked as Morgan complied and lay next to Reid on top of the blankets. He tucked his arm around Reid's waist and rested his forehead against Reid's cheek.

"Did you catch him?" Reid asked before letting himself settle back into sleep.

He could feel Morgan nod. "Thanks to you, kid. There's two women reunited with their families tonight who might not have been. You did good work today, Reid."

Reid let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. His limbs loosened in a way they hadn't since the jet had landed in Arizona and he relaxed into Morgan's touch. There would be another case tomorrow, but for tonight, they'd done the job they needed to do and he could sleep knowing it was enough for those two families.

Tomorrow, he'd get back to work.


End file.
